Fortunate Harvest
by Ember Nickel
Summary: On Ahch-To, Rey met Luke...and a fascinating Lanai. [Star Wars Rare Pairs 2018 treat for thedevilchicken.]


Rey trekked towards the _Millennium Falcon,_ wishing she had something to hit with her quarterstaff. Part of her, the part that knew better than to argue with any portion she could eke out, was grateful that Luke Skywalker had finally deigned to teach her something about the Force.

The rest of her was impatient. The First Order's reach grew day by day, and not only had Luke isolated his physical self, he had cut himself off from the Force. If he scorned it that much, what could he teach her? Yes, she was part of the galaxy, made of the same stuff as rocks and porgs, even as water. The ocean was magnificent, but she didn't think she needed a map to learn that.

Several of the Caretakers waddled by. "Sorry about the hut," Rey called. She had not expected the silhouette of Kylo Ren to follow her all the way to Ahch-To, but she had no cause to take her fear out on the Lanai. Still, was it really worth them complaining about? From Luke's appearance, the houses weren't in much use.

A couple of them continued on, but another called back in another language. Rey blinked, trying to place where she'd heard it before. Nothing that droids or Crolutes spoke. One of the off-worlders who traded at Niima?

No, it sounded like a dialect of Edush, the language that Tuwan the Pinnip spoke on the holo-show _Coastfolk_. Rey had never quite understood how the Pinnips varied their verbs, but their sounds seemed easy enough for a human to replicate. "Can you understand me?" she asked.

The Lanai made a hooting noise that sounded like laughter. The one who had spoke before answered, her accent thick but clear. "Where are you from, little human?"

"I'm from nowhere," Rey glowered. Luke was bad enough, and now this?

"Then our words have drifted very far. Kyu kyu."

Rey wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but added anyway, "I'm from Jakku."

This meant nothing to the Lanai. "Go on," she said to her comrades, "I'll catch up." The others hurried on their way, but she approached Rey warily.

"I don't mean to intrude," Rey said. "I just came here to find Luke. Hopefully we'll be out of your way soon."

The Caretaker hooted in laughter again. "The winds blow and the rains fall, but the island does not move from where it rests. You will need a strong will indeed to move twin-embrace."

"Twin-embrace?" Rey echoed. Had Luke told them about Leia?

"Your human friend, the one who forgets he is a Jedi."

Rey sighed. "We're not friends."

"Then it will be even harder to move him."

"Well, if you have any ideas, let me know."

The Caretaker shook her head, wandering off to join her friends.

Rey returned to the ship, lying on a small bunk. In Shyriiwook, Chewie protectively urged her to eat something.

"I'm fine," Rey said. The Resistance hadn't had much to spare, but were glad to share what they had. In the hopes of luring a lost Jedi out of his exile with fresh scones and grilled meats? It seemed absurd. Everything about the journey did.

Chewie looked skeptical, but let her be.

It did not take her long to grow listless, and she laughed at herself for it. She had passed days, years, on Jakku, with nothing more stimulating than the endless drift of sand below her feet and tallies on the walls. But having seen people and causes to fight for, urgency compelled her to rise. Luke had family to defend, and he was doing nothing?

She returned to the open hollow he had shown her, the mosaic etched in the basin below. Dark and light, swirling together.

Rey tried to reach out with her mind, sensing the island around her. Enormous thala-sirens and tiny insects drifted in the water, but the basin was still, just a tribute left by sages of the past.

"Your friend, with the hair, he looks very strong. Maybe he could carry off twin-embrace and bring him to your ship."

Rey whirled to see the Lanai from before. Was it the same one, she wondered? They all looked the same, gray skin and disdainful expression.

"Of course, with the Force, that might not be easy. But you seem prepared for challenges."

"Are you following me?" Rey asked.

"Not on purpose. Should I leave?"

"No," said Rey.

"Well, thank you. You have made this day more interesting than most."

In spite of herself, Rey smiled. "So have you." She sat by the edge of the mosaic, the Lanai pacing around to join her. Impulsively, Rey spoke, "Would you want to come with us? When Chewie and I get Luke to move, we're going with the Resistance. There's lots to do, if it's boring here..."

The Lanai stared up at the ceiling of the cavern, as if listening to a message from beyond, before speaking. "I was younger than you when twin-embrace came here. He had lived a life knowing one or two other Jedi at a time, before trying to teach his own students. They turned to the Dark, or were slaughtered. That was years and years ago."

Rey nodded.

"It may seem a long time since the Jedi held sway. But my grandmother and her mother and her mother's mother, all could speak of the days when the Jedi were known and revered across the galaxy. For centuries and millennia, we have lived and served the temple here."

"I see."

"Someday, pilgrims will come to honor this place again. The years of despair are not so long, next to those of peace."

"Have you foreseen that?" Rey asked, unable to mask her excitement. "In the Force?"

The Lanai gave what Rey was by then confident was a laugh. "The Force, it does not light on me as it does you and twin-embrace. This is no more than trust."

"Oh," said Rey, but she could not blame the alien. Trust in the unseen, the implausible, had sustained her through more than one night on Jakku. Only then did she ask, "Do you have a name? That I can pronounce, anyway?"

"I am Yarsh-Nimau, fortunate-harvest. And you, what do your people call you?"

"Rey."

"Be welcome, Rey, loud-weapon."

"Loud Weapon?" Rey protested. "Luke closes himself off from the world and gets to be an embrace, and I'm a loud weapon?"

"He has one living and one silent hand. And you? You make the rocks tumble with your blaster, and you make his heart shiver, bringing that lightsaber here."

"If you say so," said Rey.

Yarsh-Nimau waved a hand dismissively. "There have been seasons when I have known hunger, as there are seasons where you labor with a peaceful voice. A name is only words, if you know who you are."

"Luke said this was the remotest place in the galaxy," Rey complained. "I shouldn't have to come out here to find who I am."

"No," said Yarsh-Nimau. "But here you are, so you might as well find something."

* * *

Rey stretched out her quarterstaff, adjusting her center of gravity as she climbed amid the peaks. She had trampled just as dangerous heights among Jakku's wreckage, yet here, the water below seemed just as intimidating as the sheer drop.

A gaggle of Lanai seemed to race past her on an outcrop below, their compact bodies low to the rocks and balanced well. Yarsh-Nimau waved up to her, then began scaling the cliffside vertically.

"Careful!" Rey called, lowering her staff so Yarsh-Nimau could grab it. The Lanai ignored her, scampering to the top and giving her a cheeky wave.

"Yes, yes, you're very impressive," Rey sighed. "Don't kill yourself."

"You speak with furry giants and our people alike, and you are impressed by a little climb? Pyar!"

"I learned a lot of languages," Rey said, not looking over at Yarsh-Nimau as she carefully focused on the next ridge. "There wasn't a lot to do where I come from. And you need to know if people are trying to rip you off."

"It seems a relief, not to have to trade and count earnings like human folk. But quiet, too. We do not know the harmonies of other voices."

Rey turned around, steadying herself to balance. "The ancient Jedi texts—can you read them? Do you know the language?"

"No," said Yarsh-Nimau. "They were written in the ancient dlaman-jir, the wheel script. When we write, it is in the figli, the arrow way. Easier just to speak, eh?"

Rey nodded absently. "Luke says they're worthless, relics of a past time. He wouldn't mind if I took them, would he?"

"He might," Yarsh-Nimau said. "The question is, is he right?"

Rey paused. For a moment, the height of the rocks seemed trivial against the vault of the sky above. "He keeps dismissing himself, blaming himself. I don't see how he can be sure of anything. Even that."

Yarsh-Nimau smiled, then leapt across a cairn. "Then it seems your choice is made."

"Hold up," said Rey, securing a grip on the cliffside as she climbed down. "I don't think even the Force can keep me in place." _So much for lifting rocks,_ she silently added.

"You don't want to race?"

"It's probably inappropriate for a Jedi or something. And there's enough to be scared of already."

Yarsh-Nimau did not immediately answer, only descended in silence. She followed Rey towards the hollow tree, and for a moment Rey thought she'd put the conversation out of mind. But before Rey could enter, Yarsh-Nimau spoke. "What are you afraid of?"

"Kylo Ren," Rey admitted. "Well, not _him_." He was just a person, a person she had withstood once before with little training. "But the way he just—shows up here, in the Force. Can he find me? Are we connected somehow?"

She had not expected answers from the Lanai, but neither had she expected Yarsh-Nimau's quizzical expression. "Who?"

"Who?" Rey blurted. "Luke's nephew? Who murdered his students? And drove him into exile?"

"Twin-embrace does not go into detail about his past."

"Well, what _does_ he talk about? Does he even speak your language?"

"He has learned. Mostly to ask what is good to eat, whether we need anything, when the rain is due."

Rey rolled her eyes.

"Some of the old ones leave him alone. Me, I tell tales of the Jedi who came here in days gone by, when he pretends he is not paying attention."

"I thought you said it would be impossible to move him!" Rey blurted, but she was amused.

"Yes, yes. But not so hard to annoy him."

The Lanai's teasing gave Rey a new resolve. Who was Luke to lock the texts away? If he could not teach her, maybe they could.

She stepped inside, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of the tree, and gathered the books into her arms, trying to make sure the spines did not crumble. Holo-projections were much more common on Jakku; the last time she had seen so much parchment in one place had been when a Dug had been trying to sell relics from comet-surfers, and this looked older still.

"Do you need help?" Yarsh-Nimau asked, as she emerged.

"I'm okay," said Rey. "Just open the hatch of the ship, if you don't mind."

Yarsh-Nimau eagerly waddled ahead.

"You're allowed to go in there, aren't you?"

"There are no traditions, but it is a...faraway place, for us. We do not want to...smear it." Rey had to guess at the translation. Profane? "My grandmother said that Jedi came to meditate, to honor the Force, to commune with those who had come before them. I do not think she imagined a student needing these books, with nobody else to learn from."

Rey stowed the books in a hatch, stacking them side by side. She took one out and opened it, but as Yarsh-Nimau had said, found the writing incomprehensible.

"I do not mean to insult you," said Yarsh-Nimau. "For one alone, you are very...brave."

* * *

Chewbacca was wading in a cove, a school of thin silvery fish evading his enormous paws. Rey sat on the shore, watching him. The water deterred her, but not enough to wander back among the Lanai.

This was to no avail. Yarsh-Nimau bounded over, a couple of porgs flying away at her approach.

"Sorry," Rey called.

"Sorry?" Yarsh-Nimau echoed. "Whatever for?"

"Your cart. Got a little eager with the lightsaber."

"What cart?"

"The cart you all were wheeling around? Broke a handle off?"

Yarsh-Nimau scowled. "Not all of us go about the same tasks."

"Oh," said Rey. "I just thought they'd tell you..."

"Do all humans grow resentful when one is wronged? Even on the same planet?"

"On a planet with two humans, they might," Rey pointed out.

"Then I will pester twin-embrace all the more," said Yarsh-Nimau, "so you stop hiding and come defy me."

"You're not scared of me?" Rey grinned. "And my awe-inspiring Force powers?"

"I've already heard you boast of your powers. It is control you're trying to learn; you would not dare lash out at small me, would you?"

"I don't boast!"

"Eh... _kleemy_ ," said Yarsh-Nimau, gesturing helplessly. "You were sorry when you broke the cart. That is not bragging, but you know your own strength and can speak of it well."

"Thanks," said Rey, finding herself blushing. The attention the Lanai gave her was odd, but it was a welcome change from those on Jakku who passed her with merely grunts and mutterings, fragments of a dozen languages filtering together in her mind.

"Now if you hide yourself away, what makes you different from twin-embrace?"

"Everything!" Rey snapped. How dare Yarsh-Nimau compare her to Luke's apathy?

"Oh?"

"I'm just—embarrassed about what I did, that's all." It was easier to accept responsibility for her own sparring than the blaster shot. She'd only been defending herself. It was certainly not her idea to have the apparition of Kylo Ren take form! "I barely know anything about the old Jedi, I can't take credit for anything unnatural they did. But I can't take the blame for that, either."

"Ah," said Yarsh-Nimau. "What has he been telling you?"

"The Jedi were responsible for teaching Darth Vader and letting...someone, I forgot his name...take power. They became myths because they're all gone now? And everyone expected him to do well because he has special blood but he's just one person."

"His blood is nothing special," Yarsh-Nimau said. "I've seen it, he's cut himself cooking fish."

Rey snorted.

"Are the Jedi myths, where you come from?"

"I guess," said Rey. In some ways the Jedi she'd heard tales of were less alien than the Lanai—they spoke the galactic standard, at least—but they duelled with spectacular weapons, called down the sky and planets to do their will, bent the minds of others. Even having seen it for herself, it was still hard to fathom.

"Is that so bad? They were romanticized even when they walked the galaxy by the thousands. Why would so many voyage here, if not to stand in awe of the past?"

"Not for the food," said Rey.

"Darth Vader...if all of us were to be defined by our greatest disappointment, we should all curse the first teacher whoever took chalk to slate, eons and eons ago. Whoever they were."

Rey gave a smile. "And Luke should still be free to run off and hide if he wanted. But why doesn't he listen when the galaxy needs him?"

"The galaxy is bigger than one person. However strong."

"His _sister_ needs him," Rey added, then broke off.

But Yarsh-Nimau did not let her retreat. "What is it?"

"Nothing," said Rey, then took in Yarsh-Nimau's unyielding gaze. She'd made a fool of herself twice over in front of the Lanai, and the others were more than happy to avoid her, but that one sought her out. Well, her own fault if she listened when Rey talked nonsense. "He just takes her for granted, when some of us have never had anyone that close."

Yarsh-Nimau quietly reached out and laid her hand on Rey's arm. It was less blubbery than Rey had expected, though cool to the touch. "Do not sell yourself short. There is ever time."

"If you're going to claim to be my long-lost twin, that's very sweet, but I don't think even the Force works that way."

"I hope not," said Yarsh-Nimau. "We were not hatched from the same eggs, but might you weave your nest with mine?"

"Me?" asked Rey, scarcely daring to hope she had translated the metaphor correctly. "I—" _No one. From nowhere. With the Resistance. There's something inside. A pilot._

A moment passed, and she took in Yarsh-Nimau. A Caretaker, but unique. Only herself. And somehow, for Rey, that was enough. More than enough.

Was that how Yarsh-Nimau saw her, too?

"Fortunate-harvest," she said, trying her best with the accent, "I am very fortunate indeed to know you."

"Loud-weapon," Yarsh-Nimau replied, "your light cuts open my spirit and sings."

* * *

Bolts of lightning divided the sky as the rain torrents engulfed Ahch-To. Rey yearned to take it in, to remain still and savor it, first with her skin and then with the Force, heedless of the electricity in the air.

But while she would bear that risk gladly, the risk to the galaxy would not wait. If Luke refused to teach her, then who could she turn to but the man once named Ben Solo? There were planets where deluges overcame droughts, where green things flourished, where centuries-old pirates hid away relics. What was changing his heart, next to that?

She had remained on Jakku for years in the hope that her family would return to her, and her parents—as Kylo had sensed—had been vagrants with no love for her. After that, it should have been easy to lift off, resist the small planet's gravity.

Yet still she ran through the settlement, howling into the wind. Yarsh-Nimau drew her, and that was a pull Rey could not ignore.

"Please," she called, "hello? Is anyone there?" No doubt they were sleeping through the rain like sensible beings.

She pounded on the nearest door. No response. Knocked again. Couldn't she call upon the Force, somehow? If past experience with the Lanai was any guide she'd probably take the door off its hinges.

Before Rey had to experiment further, a young Caretaker came to the door. She looked less surprised than resigned to see Rey there. "I'm sorry," Rey yelled, "I really need to speak with Yarsh-Nimau."

The Caretaker pointed angrily towards a hut across the path, either indicating Yarsh-Nimau's residence or suggesting to Rey exactly where she could place her quarterstaff. Rey sprinted on, giving another sharp knock.

Had she attuned her ears to the Force to hear Yarsh-Nimau rousing, scurrying across the meager floor, or was it just her imagination willing her there? Either way, moments later Yarsh-Nimau emerged, doing a double-take even though there was no one else of Rey's height it could possibly be.

"Come in," she urged. "You're soaking, I'll light a fire—"

"I can't stay," said Rey, but she hurried in as much to let Yarsh-Nimau shut the door and be heard over the rain as anything else.

Before Rey could protest further, Yarsh-Nimau had taken a lit candle from a protective vase and was bustling about at the hearth.

"I need to leave," Rey said. "Luke doesn't want me here, I've been seeing Kylo in—visions. If I go to him, he could overthrow his master. I've felt it."

"You have all the books?" said Yarsh-Nimau.

"You can—what?"

"The books you took from the tree, they're still in your ship?"

"Yes, of course. I'll try to study them if nothing else works, but—"

"They were written thousands upon thousands of years ago. If visions were certain, all those past years and even those yet to come would be written with confidence, in so many books you could not lift them."

Rey shivered, becoming conscious of just how damp she was as she tried to parse Yarsh-Nimau's words. "I don't know how or when, not exactly. But this is something I must do."

"Then go," Yarsh-Nimau said simply. "But do not be so complacent that you do not choose your own future."

"Come with me," said Rey, more a hope than a query. "I just found you, I don't want to leave you now."

"You are not abandoning me if you go to discover the Force."

Even with the translation questions, Rey was stung by even the hint of _abandonment_. "The Force is everywhere, you can study the past and change the future anywhere. So why stay?"

"You will be very busy as a Jedi. I do not think you will have time or energy to translate for me!"

Was that a joke? It seemed one, but when Rey tried to envision Yarsh-Nimau far from her own people, with holo-show stars the closest thing she could find to her own language, it seemed farfetched. Again she wondered how Luke had endured the isolation on Ahch-To, cut off even from the Force.

It was Yarsh-Nimau's strong will and frank manner that had drawn Rey to her, in part. She would not be the person who Rey had come to care for if she could be swayed so easily. Sighing, Rey said, "I don't know when I'll be free, when we'll be free. But I'll try to return, someday."

"It is well we met," Yarsh-Nimau teased. "What would you fight for, otherwise?"

Besides freedom and justice and a reckoning? Yes, she understood Rey, too.

"You mentioned your grandmother," Rey said, suddenly curious. "How—do Lanai have fathers?"

"I cannot bear your child, if that is what you are asking," said Yarsh-Nimau. "As adorable as such a fledgling may be."

"No," said Rey. "I just, you've never talked about men."

"The Visitors, our menfolk, they come and go. They fish the waters, but many do not like remaining on the land. They come for festivals, and then hunt again." As Rey took this in, Yarsh-Nimau added, "So I am used to leavetakings."

"I'm no fisher," said Rey. "But I'll see what I can do."

"It will be a cause for celebration if you land again," said Yarsh-Nimau. "No matter what you break."

Rey hugged her tightly before dashing back through the rain. Her family was never coming back, perhaps Luke wasn't either, maybe even Kylo Ren would not join her.

But Maz' words still echoed in her. Whatever came next, someday she could become the one who returned.


End file.
